Accessibility Links

There’s no good time to call a referendum

Kenny Farquharson

Sturgeon has set a tough schedule linked to Brexit, and it comes with an unenviable choice

There is an old gag that goes: “Timing. What’s the most important thing in comedy?” Well the same is true of politics. Timing is everything. It can mean the difference between triumph and disaster. When your timing is out, you are in trouble.

Apply this logic to the most tantalising question in Scottish politics and the result is illuminating. The question of the moment is this: will Nicola Sturgeon call a second referendum on independence? Try to break down the first minister’s decision-making process and it immediately becomes clear that the timing is deeply problematic.

Will she or won’t she? Even some senior Nationalists are finding it hard to predict which way she will jump. As a result there is jitteriness in some quarters of…